Howdy y’all! It’s time to play, “Where in the world are Sharon and Miguel fighting methane emissions now?” Any guesses?
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Our Work in the Media
Oilfield Witness is working to educate people around the world about the dangers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a lot of the work to be done is right here in the United States. Sharon was quoted in a recent Inside Climate News article:
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“LNG requires more drilling, more fracking, more processing, more compressor stations, more pipelines and more power plants,” @txsharon.bsky.social , the director of Oilfield Witness, said. “Each one of those kinds of facilities will have a permit allowing it to release tons of pollution per year.”
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“I, Sharon Wilson, spent 12 years in the oil industry before becoming an environmental investigator for Oilfield Witness. Using specialized optical gas imaging cameras, I’ve documented methane releases from Japanese-financed gas and LNG facilities. “If only people could see what’s here, smell the air, drink the water, visualize the emissions, this wouldn’t be happening,” I can say with certainty. “The public would not stand for it.”
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Bill McKibben mentioned one of Justin’s articles in a recent issue of The Crucial Yearstalking about some good news in the energy world.
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“Here’s a fun story. The head of the Saudi state oil company is insisting that the renewable energy transition is failing. But they’re also investing heavily in…renewable energy. As Justin Mikulka points out, something has to keep the cash flowing so that Saudi princes can buy soccer teams and golf leagues.”
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Supporting Other Organizations
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A core part of our work is supporting efforts to address the climate and environmental crisis by helping efforts by other organizations working to stop oil and gas expansion. In January, Justin went to Mexico to speak at a meeting of groups organizing to stop the expansion of LNG export facilities in Mexico that would be used to export dirty Permian gas from Texas and New Mexico. This event was organized and led by the group Conexiones Climáticas who have been running the Whales or Gas? Campaign.
Justin presented to the group on the realities of Permian methane emissions and why U.S. LNG is so damaging to the climate. After returning, he wrote this piece about why this work is so important.
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Justin speaking to group in Mexico
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Sharon and Miguel are in Japan where they are speaking with the media, politicians and bankers about the reality of the climate killing emissions associated with U.S. LNG imports. They are working with Oil Change International, Friends of the Earth Japan and other groups focused on stopping the growth of LNG.
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One thing we are learning in our work is that despite the science being very clear that LNG is worse for the climate than coal, the industry marketing campaigns have effectively convinced many people and politicians that the opposite is true. However, when people hear the science and see our OGI footage of the reality of the Permian methane emissions, they very quickly understand they’ve been lied to.
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Sharon wrote about the realities of methane emissions in the U.S. oilfields.
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“What if I told you that there are hundreds, even thousands of hydrocarbon spills into our air on a daily basis? You might not believe me because the spills— like germs and viruses— are invisible. But even though you can’t see them, you still breathe in the harmful compounds in these spills just like you breathe in germs and viruses.”
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Her article got a lot of response on LinkedIn(where she has a big following) including the following:
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Justin wrote about the growing unfunded cleanup liabilities for the U.S. oil and gas industry and how it is increasingly clear they will implement what they call “sunset operations” and walk away from these liabilities when the profits are gone.
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“In 1990 officials were warning the government that they needed a plan to make sure the costs to clean up the mess being made by the oil industry were not passed on to the public. Nothing changed. If the public wants to avoid picking up the tab for the oil tycoons, it better get a sunset operation [plan] of its own in place.”
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Miguel produced a new video about the impacts of LNG export facilities on local fishing industry.
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Public Grids is an organization working to increase public ownership of power generation and utilities which was founded by isaac sevier who shared his reaction to this video.
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New Hire – Charlie Barrett
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If you’ve been reading our newsletters the past year, you probably realize we are really busy. To start 2025 we hired Charlie Barrett, a certified thermographer and ecologist. Charlie (aka Chuck) is a welcome addition to our team and has hit the ground running. You will be hearing a lot more about his work in the coming newsletters. He wrote his first piece for us already which covers some of his impressive resume.
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– Till the end of oil
The Oilfield Witness Team
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